Month: January 2017

The lovely people at QMS (Quality Meat Scotland) asked me to come up with a recipe in honour of Burns Day which combined haggis and Scotch beef. Since these are two of my favourite ingredients, I was excited to get my thinking cap on! As much as I love haggis, neeps and tatties, sometimes it’s nice to use ingredients in a new way. So here’s my Scotch Beef and Haggis Wellington. I’ve used Scotch Beef PGI which is beef that is specially selected and sourced from Scottish farms that adopt best practice regarding animal welfare and natural production methods.

Serves 4 – 6

For the Wellington

700g of Scotch beef fillet

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp English mustard

2 pre-rolled packs of puff pastry

2 beaten egg yolks

8 slices of Parma ham

300g of good quality haggis

100g of mushroom pate (Castle Maclellan is good)

Sides

3 large new potatoes per person

400ml chicken stock

3 sprigs of thyme

2 peeled garlic gloves

150g butter

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons of olive oil

6 – 8 asparagus stalks per person

Whisky Sauce

1 onion, finely chopped

10g of butter

50ml whisky

50ml of chicken stock

400ml double cream

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Salt and pepper

Squeeze of lemon juice

Method

Heat 1tbsp of olive oil in a pan and sear the beef for 30 seconds on each side.Remove the beef from the pan and brush all over with the mustard. Leave to cool.

Mix the haggis and pate together in a bowl.

On top of a sheet of cling film, lay out 4 of the slices of the Parma ham with them slightly overlapping. Spread some of the haggis and pate mixture on top of the ham. Place the beef fillet on top of this and spread the other sides of the fillet with the remainder of the mixture. Drape the other 4 slices of Parma ham over the top of the haggis covered beef. Pull the edges of the cling film up and wrap the beef top. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Take the pastry out of the fridge.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into barrel shapes.

Dust your work surface with flour and unroll one of the packs of puff pastry. Place the Parma wrapped beef in the middle of the pastry. Drape the other roll of pastry over the top. Smooth the pastry down to get a tight seal with the bottom layer of pastry, expelling any air as you go. Trim around the base of the wellington with a knife, leaving a small border. Press all the way around the border with a fork.

If you have pastry left over you can cut it into strips and create a decorative lattice pattern on the top of your wellington. Brush the pastry with the egg yolks.

Place the wellington in the fridge for 10 minutes and preheat your oven to 200C.

Put the wellington on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes at 200C then lower the temperature to 180C and cook for a further 15 minutes. The meat needs to rest for 15 minutes before you carve and serve it.

While the meat is cooking you can make the whisky sauce and the fondant potatoes. Melt 150g of butter in a pan and once the butter is foaming, add the potatoes. Cook them for 7 minutes on one side over a medium heat without moving them. Turn the potatoes over (they should be golden brown) and cook for another 7 minutes on the other side.

Add the chicken stock, garlic gloves, thyme and salt and pepper. Place a lid on the pan and leave to simmer. The potatoes are done when they are tender and slide easily off a fork.

For the whisky sauce, melt the butter in a pan and add the chopped onions. Cook over a low heat for 5 minutes until the onion softens.

Add the whisky and flambé the mixture to burn off the alcohol (carefully turn the pan to the side over the flame until it catches alight).

Add the chicken stock and the cream and bring up to a simmer. Stir in the mustard and season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon.

Drizzle the asparagus will olive oil and season will salt and pepper. Cook in a hot griddle pan for about 4 minutes.

Carve the wellington and serve on a warm plate with the potatoes, asparagus and whisky sauce.

Robert Burns birthday on the 25th of January brings a night of celebrations across the country (and further afield) in memory of the great poet. It’s a brilliant night of food, drink, verse and good company but it can be a bit daunting if you’ve never planned your own before. So here’s the Girl Versus Food guide to hosting a Burn’s Night at home.

The Food

It goes without saying that your guests will be expecting haggis, neeps and tatties! Getting good quality haggis is important; I’d suggest ordering one from your local butcher. For something a bit different, Servus Venison Haggis is very good.

Will you be serving your haggis traditional style with champit tatties and bashed ‘neeps? Or will you look to incorporate the national dish into your menu in another way? I’ve previously created these Haggis Scotch Eggs and will be posting a recipe for Haggis Beef Wellington later in the week.

Last year for my Burns Supper, I went classic with a haggis main course and designed the rest of the menu using as much fantastic Scottish produce as possible. The full menu was as follows;

Amuse Bouche:

Lobster Tail with truffle

Starter:

A Plate of Game – game terrine, venison tartar served with a quails egg, game pate

Not a big whisky fan? How about a lovely Scottish gin instead? Just like whisky, each gin is very different depending on the botanicals used. A few of my favourites are Rock Rose, The Botanist and Strathearn. Rock Rose have distilled this beautiful limited edition Lassies Toast Gin for Burns this year.

The Toasts and Poems

It’s great to get all your guests involved in the fun. You might want to ask them to pick out a favourite piece by Burns in advance that they would be happy to give a rendition of on the night (since nobody likes to be put on the spot). You could have guests reading their verses between courses or after the meal.

The Selkirk Grace is said at the beginning of the meal. This is a short and easy verse so would be ideal for someone who is nervous about reading a poem aloud.

When the haggis is brought to the table (ideally accompanied by bagpipe music) Address to The Haggis is read and the cooked haggis is cut open.

After the meal, there are three pieces performed which have been written especially for the evening by the hosts or another appointed person.

The Immortal Memory is a tribute to Robert Burns where the speaker picks out interesting aspects of The Bards life or works. This is the most serious of the speeches.

The Toast To The Lassies is a light-hearted performance and an opportunity to tease the female guests in a good natured way. It should always end with a genuine thanks to the fairer sex and a heartfelt toast.

It’s only fair that the girls get a chance to respond and so follows The Reply to The Toast To The Lassies.

At the end of the night, it’s time to get your guests together, join hands and sing along to Auld Lang Syne.

Remember, it’s your night so if there are any sections you want to skip or extras you want to add in then go ahead and tailor the evening to you and your guests.

Everything Else

If you can talk your guests into wearing tartan then all the better… kilts, tartan trews and dresses will really set Burns mood.

A tartan themed table and place cards will look beautiful too! As an added touch, you might want to think about a wee favour on your guests’ place settings. Scottish tablet or an alcohol miniature perhaps?

Too Much Hassle?

If this all seems like a bother or hosting isn’t your thing, get yourself along to an organised Burns Supper in your area. And nobody will ask you to do the dishes at the end of the night! Here’s a couple of options in Edinburgh and Glasgow.